Page 76 of Night in a Waste Land

King Arthur. His knights. His legacy. His saints.

She sucked in a breath, and typedSaint Derfelinto the search bar.

She spent three days researching, and then she took her findings to Captain Bedlam.

Who arched a single brow and sat back in her chair, absently clicking the top on a pen with a raised hand. “A saint? In Wales? King Arthur?”

“I know it sounds crazy,” Rose said, hyper-aware of Lance’s gaze pinned sharply to the side of her face. She ignored him. “But it’s something he told me about before the Second Rift – a theory that he, and others, had even then. And according to what I discovered in the chat rooms–”

“You want me to send you to Wales based on what you found inchat rooms?”

“No, ma’am,” she said, undeterred, chin lifting to a stubborn angle. “I want you to send me to Wales because there aren’t any other immediate options for advancing this war, and because, chat rooms or not, this is the first new idea anyone’s brought you.”

Her look plainly saidwatch it. “Why Becket? He wasn’t military. In fact, he was a goddamn criminal, if I’m reading this report right.”

“Never officially charged, only suspected,” Rose said, and earned an eye twitch and another warning glance. No verbal reprimand, though. “And Beck is the right choice because I know him. Very well. It takes a strong, personal connection to bring someone back like this. A great force of will.”

Bedlam snorted. “I can’t argue with yourwill, at least. But what’s to ensure he isn’t another conduit, same as all the rest?”

This was the part she was still uncertain of; an uncertainty she wouldn’t betray, not to anyone, not if it meant the chance to try. She said, “He wasn’t dead when he went down, ma’am. He didn’t die.”

Her face went momentarily blank. “He’s alive down there? That’s possible?”

She didn’t know. Perhaps being sucked through the portal would kill him; perhaps Derfel – if he could even be compelled to stir at all – would bring back a ghost, one in need of a vessel. But, again, she poured on the bravado and said, “Yes. And, let me say: I know he isn’t military, but Beck is a better, smarter fighter, and better-versed in killing conduits than anyone I’ve met in my time here.”

She heard Lance take a sharp breath in through his nose beside her, and pointedly didn’t look at him.

“Better than anyone,” Bedlam echoed, expression verging toward offended. “Well. I guess we’ll see about that, won’t we?”

Rose went on to explain some of Beck’s research, what she could remember: explained his hell theory.

“It isn’t the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.”

In the end, permission was granted, pending approval from the higher-ups. Rose left Bedlam’s office with something like a bounce in her step, and a lightness in her chest she hadn’t felt in years. She had a plan. Beck was coming back – no matter what it took.

Lance caught up with her around the next bend in the hall. He snagged her jacket sleeve and pulled her around to face him. “You’re bluffing,” he said, like an accusation.

Only a little. She said, “I told you the night Beck went under that I was going to get him back.”

He made a frustrated sound. “You were in shock. That was the grief talking. But after all this time, you can’t be serious right now.”

A small voice in the back of her mind informed her she should feel sympathetic here. She was talking about resurrecting her former lover, right in front of her current one. But most of her brain space was devoted toBECK, BECK, BECK, and she couldn’t find that softness she needed for this moment.

“You said yourself you had no idea how we were going to win this war. We needed something different, something we haven’t tried before.”

“Yeah, I meant a special kind of grenade, or a conduit-proof tank or something.” His eyes were wild. “Not your old boyfriend back from the dead!”

She took a breath. “He’s not dead.” She couldn’t bring herself to addressold boyfriendwithout saying something terrible.

“You don’t know that! And even if he isn’t, he’s just one man!”

“You’re shouting.”

“And you’re being insane! I thought you’d gotten past this, Rose.” He wiped a hand down his face, and shook his head. “Jesus…this isn’t possible.”

“You fight angel-possessed people for a living, and you want to lecture me on what’s possible?”

His lips pressed into a tight line. “This is a stupid idea.”

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